Harness-snap



UNirnD STATES PATENT rrr-en.

HARNESS-SNAP.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N0. 40,486, dated November 3, 1863.

To @ZZ whom it may concern,.-

Be it known that I, RICHARD W. JONES, of the city of Syracuse, county of Onondaga,

-State of New York, have invented certain new and useful improvements in the construction of spring-snaps for conveniently uniting different portions of the ordinary harness as used on horses, Ste. 5 and I do hereby declare and ascertain the same, reference be-V ing had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a perspective view of my improved snap. Fig. 2 is a detached view of the body thereof. Fig. 3 is a detached view of the pivoted lip A and spring b.

Like letters referto like parts in all the drawings.

The object of my invention is to unite in this useful device all of the elements which a long experience in the use of harness has suggested as desirable,- and which may be speciiied as follows, viz: It is desirable to unite such parts of harness as require frequent ad justment in some way that will admit of their being quickly detached and quickly reunited, and it is also desirable to make these connections in the safest possible manner, as the danger resulting from accidental failure in these parts is often very great. It is also desirable in the construction of fancy harness that these parts should be neatly shaped and presenta pleasing appearance. In my present device, I have aimed to combine all of these elements and produce a snap at once convenient, safe, and neatly formed.

My device consists of the ordinary eye or loop, d, and the grooved shank E and the ordinary hook f, united in one piece ot' metal, and which, when all united, I call the body7 of the snap, as shown in Fig. 2. The shank E is grooved for the reception of the spring b, which is simply a small straight strip of thin steel about one and a halt' inches long and three-sixteenths of an inch Wide, to be placed loosely in the bottom of the aforesaid groove, which is curved downward to admit of the said spring being forced downward by the eam g on the under side of the lip A, and this cam being located slightly forward of the pivot, by which the lip A is attached, the

spring presses the lip up against the under side of the hookf.

In order torender such a device entirely safe it is necessary that the lip A should be pressed up against the hook with considerable force, and if the required force is obtained by the action of a spring acting in the ordinary manner, it is diflicult to open the snap sufliciently wide to receive the large rings of or` dinary harness without exerting a considera bly-increasing force upon it with the thumb, so that for frequent use it would be inconvenient as well as unsafe. It is therefore evi dent that the parts should be so arranged as to cause the greatest elastic force to be eX- erted on the lip A while it is in contact with the hook as when in use, and that the force required to open it should be a diminishingforce instead of an increasing force. My device accomplishes this object in a very cheap, safe, and convenient manner by simply causing the spring to act on the lip A at a point so located with reference to its pivot or center of motion that as the said lip is depressed its point` of contact with the spring moves backward toward its pivot or fulcrum, thereby diminishing the leverage with which the spring acts upon the lip, and consequently requiring only a diminishing-force to open it.

The parts of my improved snap, as thus constructed, are simple, and cheap, and durable, and when combined they attain all of the objects desirable in such a device, and which, in view of the very great demand for such an improvement, at once becomes of great importance as an element in the construetion and convenient use of harness.

The construction ofthe loop and the hollow body and the hook of the snap all in one piece for simplicity, and a pivoted lip, A, to attain greater range of motion with but slight action of the spring, and a straight spring, so acting upon the lip by means 0f the peculiar location of its cam g with reference to its pivot or center of motion as to cause the spring to act upon the lip with greater power while it is closed than while it is open are all essential elements of my improved snap, and unless they are all combined in the manner represented in my improvedV snap the results are in some Way imperfect and the device Wonld ,be inconvenient and unsafe for general use;`

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, isd The arrangement and combination of parts specically as described, and substantially as and for the purposes set fortli-thatis to say,

the spring B, laid into a recess, E,'in the hook, Without being1 affixed thereto, amdv held in place by the pivot of the lip A, all as herein described. l

RICHARD W. JONES. Witnesses:

WM. WALLACE, J AMES PEGK. 

